Called into the ministry
Category: Church, Ministry & Spiritual Gifts
Key Passage: Mark 3:13-14
Speaker: Paul Chisgar
Date: June 7, 2024
I appreciate all that. Mark chapter number three in God’s Word tonight. Good to have a guest slip in with us back there. We’re glad to have you and appreciate you coming in to be with us tonight. Mark chapter number three. And this is where Jesus is calling His apostles. I want you to just kind of notice a thing or two. Earlier this week, I felt like the Lord just wanted us to emphasize a little bit about our calling and what God is calling us to.
And Mark chapter number three, we’ll start there tonight. I sure appreciate godly people and just being in the house of the Lord trying to serve God. God is so pleased with that. He is very, very pleased with that. Glad you’re in church, right where you ought to be, right where you ought to be. I’m glad you’re here tonight. Mark chapter number three, we’re going to start verse number 13. Would you please stand if you’re able to?
In respect to the Word of God, Mark 3 and verse number 13 of God’s Word. If you’re there, would you say amen? Amen. Good deal. Verse number 13: “And he,” that’s Jesus, “goeth up into a mountain and calleth unto him”—I’ve got those words underlined—“whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve,” watch this, “that they should be with him, that he might send them forth to preach.”
Would you pray with me that God would just give us a little vision of the ministry? The ministry—you’re all in the ministry for the Lord. Would you pray the Lord give you a vision of the ministry tonight? Would you do that?
Father, Lord, we come. Lord, thank you for challenging my heart. I need that, Lord. I pray to You to take this truth and would You challenge every heart here or give us a clear vision of the ministry You want us to walk in. Lord, please, would You do so? Father, well, thank You. I’ll brag with You and praise You for what You do, Lord. Father, we ask for this in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.
Would you please be seated? Thank you for standing.
Every person here tonight is called. If you’re a born-again Christian, you’re called into the ministry. Now you say, well, I thought that was you and Brother Anthony. That’s typically what we call the full-time Christian ministry of service. But can I say this? That’s not technically accurate either. We’re all in the full-time ministry, every person here.
You’re in the ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now you say, well, I want to get paid by the church like y’all do. We are privileged. It is an honor, and I mean that very, very seriously. But we’re all called to the ministry. Every single person, you’re called to be an ambassador for Jesus Christ. You represent Him. You’re called to be a light to this whole world. You’re called to be the salt of this old world. You’re called to be a missionary to your neighborhood.
I see Jonathan over here and his neighborhood there and the friends that live around him and across the street from his house. There’s a house with about 100 dogs, it seemed like. They’re always living in the fence barking. He’s a missionary to that house. But every person here is called. You’re called to your job, to be a testimony of the Lord at your school. Everywhere you go, every person here, you’re called to the ministry. God did not save you just to take you home to heaven. If that’s it, He’d take you out. He saved you, He left you here, and He’s called you to represent Him in this world. You’re called into the ministry, every person here.
You’re a part of His ministry. You’re called to be a soul winner. You’re called to be in a church and be active and involved in a church of Jesus Christ. You’re called to be that. Every person here is in the ministry. Maybe you have a special calling. Maybe you’re a Sunday school teacher. Maybe you work at the bus ministry. Maybe you’re teaching children’s church, maybe the nursery, and blankets of love. All these are ministries. Maybe you are an usher in our church. Maybe you’re in the hospitality ministry. Maybe the music ministry. All those are special callings, but every person here is called. You’re called by the Lord Jesus Christ into the ministry. I want us just take a glimpse at this calling.
I want you to see God often works this way when He is calling you into the ministry. Would you look back at those verses we just read as He is calling these 12 apostles? Would you notice the calling, verse number 13: “And he goeth up into a mountain, and he calleth unto him?”
The first call of your calling to the ministry is the Lord calling you to Him. It always starts with Him calling you to Him. The most important part of your ministry starts with you coming to Him. If you’re going to be an effective usher, an usher that has an influence for the Lord Jesus Christ, it’ll start with you coming to Him. If you’re going to be a soloist, one that gives a special, one God touches hearts and lives through, it starts with you coming unto Him. All the callings of God start with Him calling you to Him.
Let’s keep reading. “And he called unto him whom he would: and they came unto him. And he ordained twelve,” it’s so important—I got it underlined if you like to do so in your Bible—“that they should be with him.” It always starts there. Now after that, He gave them special calling. He sent them forth to preach, and He gave them special power to heal and cast out devils. But it always starts with Him calling you to Him, to be with Him. That’s the calling of God. It starts with you being with Him.
Friend, that’s the heartbeat of it all. That’s the core of it all. That’s the center of it all. He calls you to Him. Would you look over in Psalm 23? Would you, very quickly, the Shepherd Psalm? You’ll know it. Psalm 23—what a wonderful passage it is. Notice the progression, if you will, in Psalm 23. Notice there, verse number one, He starts it off, you’ll know it: “The Lord is my shepherd.” A shepherd and the sheep, they have a special relationship. They get comfort from the shepherd. The shepherd takes care of all their needs. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.”
Notice, “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures.” He makes you. “He leadeth me beside the still waters.” Sheep only drink if the waters are still. Sometimes I pray, “Lord, as You lead me there, I hope I drink.” He’ll lead you there. “He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restores my soul.” That’s when that sheep gets cast, they get fallen over. He restores my soul.
But notice, He doesn’t talk about maybe serving Him until now. Then He says, “He leadeth me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.” Now, He leads you in service. He calls you into service after He meets your needs. After He’s your shepherd. After He’s led you beside the still waters. After He makes you lie down. After He restores your soul, then He leads you in paths of righteousness for His name. That’s the ministry, folks. He leads you to Him, to be with Him.
A ministry always, if it’s the right ministry and His ministry, He is blessing, He is working. He always leads you to Him first. He called them unto Himself to be with Him. Then He sent them forth to preach and cast out demons.
Can I remind you of Nehemiah over there in the book of Nehemiah? Nehemiah is there in Persia, in the palace. He’s a king’s cupbearer. He has a friend come from Jerusalem. He says, “Hey, give me a report about Jerusalem.” He said, “It’s so sad. The walls are broken down, and the enemies can come in any time, and they’re living in fear in the city of God in Jerusalem.”
Remember what Nehemiah did before he went to the king? For months, friend, for months, I believe, right? Four months he spent with the Lord. After four months, then he goes before the king, and the king said, “You’ve never been sad in my presence; what’s going on?” That wasn’t a coincidence. They weren’t supposed to go there sad before the king. He said, “Well, how can I be on top side when the city of God has no walls and protection?”
Of course, he gets the king’s blessing on that. But he didn’t go to that ministry until he had spent four months with the Lord. Friend, I’m saying the most important part of your calling into the ministry starts with you coming to the Lord. That’s the most important part.
The most important meeting I have every day happens before I ever get here in my office. It happens alone with the Lord. Same thing with you. Whatever your ministry is—whether it be to raise a good, godly girl and a good, godly young man for the Lord, whether it be to have a good, godly marriage—whatever you’re doing, that’s most important. Paul’s calling is right there. But those ministries God has called you to, it all starts with you meeting with the Lord. That’s the core of it all. That’s the beginning of it all.
Before you ever come to teach a Sunday school class and you break the bread of God to those boys and that girls or those adults, the most important thing starts even before you get here. It starts when you get along with God, and you get the presence of God and the heartbeat of God, and you stand before those kids, and you’re going to break the Word of God. You’ve been meeting with God before you stand before them. The most important part starts before when you’re meeting with God.
Before you ever come and you stand and sing a special, before you ever do that, it starts off with meeting with God. That’s always the most important part of the ministry. Before you ride a bus and you try to minister to those kids on that bus—by the way, those kids, you might be the only Bible they ever read. You might look like Jesus Christ to them; I hope you do. Before you ever go to ministry, the most important part is to meet with the Lord.
You see, because the world has a lot of things to offer those kids, but you ought to have something different. You ought to have the Lord Jesus Christ to offer those kids. You ought to see Him in your life. That’s always the most important part of the ministry. Before you hand the bulletin out, you shake someone’s hand and you give them a smile, you ought to be meeting with the Lord.
They come to church and say, “You know, something’s different in that church.” Even the ushers resemble the Lord because that usher has been meeting with God. Hospitality ministry is so vital, so very, very important. We had some visitors come back today, and maybe part of that was our hospitality ministry, texting, contact—and that’s all so vital. As we greet those visitors and those guests, we ought to meet with the Lord before, have a touch of God on us when we go to minister to the people.
Friend, I’m telling you, this whole world needs to see Jesus in us. And before He sent them out, He called them unto Him. He said, “I’m ordaining you to be with Me.” Friend, your ministry starts off with being with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those that make a difference for eternity—you check it out in the history of Christianity—those that have made a difference for the Lord Jesus Christ are those that have emphasized getting alone and getting to know God. That’s the key. It’s always the key. This world needs someone that’s met with the Savior.
Acts chapter 4: Peter and John go to the temple. That lame man there had been lame since his birth, 40 years old and above. He looks on Peter and John; he’s going to get some money from these guys. They said, “Silver and gold have I none.” Didn’t that sound like a preacher for sure? I’ll tell you. But they said, “Such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk.”
That fellow leaped up, never having been able to walk in all his life since he was a baby. Can you imagine? It takes a baby a while to learn to walk. That fellow just leaped up, took off running and then shouting. What happened? They got in trouble for that. They caused a ruckus. They stood on trial—their own trial. Peter and John were preaching Jesus Christ, and they had been told not to do that. They said, “We ought to obey God rather than man.”
They gave that classic verse, verse number 12: “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved,” talking about the name of Jesus. Wonderful thing. Here’s the interesting thing: the next verse, verse number 13, Acts 4:13, I’ll just read it for you: “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men”—they weren’t college professors; they didn’t have all the degrees—“they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”
I hope the world can see that in me. That’s the key. We’re not going to make a difference in somebody’s life on our own. The Lord does that for Him. Our calling starts to get to know the Lord, getting close, and abiding with the Lord.
There are plenty of helps out there. Social programs galore. Your tax money is paying for a lot of them, friend, and a lot of them aren’t doing a bit of good either. Friend, I’m not against every one of them, but I’ll say this: this old world needs somebody who is for God. They need people who have been meeting with God and have been close to the Lord, and that makes a difference. That’s the thing this old world needs. We’ve got more social programs than we’ve ever had in America, and we’re falling apart. This whole country needs somebody to get along with God.
You go to the workplace, and they say, “Something’s different about them.” They’ve been called to the ministry, and they understand the first part of the calling is to get along with God. “Something different about that boy, something different about that lady. There’s just something about them.” It’s because they’ve been along with Jesus. That’s what Jesus called them to: He called them to Himself, to be with Him, and then He sent them out.
The story is told—a true story, they say—about a missionary who had been, I think it was either Japan or China. I’m not sure, and I’ve got it somewhere, but I didn’t take time to look it up. He had been ministering for years over in that country and had actually influenced the royal family. They were on what we often call a furlough, back in Europe years ago. While in Europe, some of the royal family happened to be there. They said, “Hey, the missionary is here; we can visit him.” So part of the royal family went to visit the missionary, who just had a small place while on furlough.
The royal family spent some time with the missionary and said, “Thank you for coming to our country and influencing our country for the Lord Jesus Christ.” The royal family left. Later that day, some people from that country were there in Europe. They said, “Let’s go visit the missionary.” They went to visit him and walked into that little apartment. They said, “Hey, we can smell it.”
They say at that time there was a certain fragrance that nobody else could detect, just the royal family. When the people from that country walked into that apartment, they said, “Hey, you’ve had royalty at your house! We can smell it.”
Can they smell the royalty on you? Have you met with the King? Have you been alone with Him? Have you seen His face? Have you felt His heartbeat? Have you walked with Him? When people get close to you, can they say, “Hey, they’ve got a little bit of royalty; they’ve been around. I can smell the fragrance of the Lord on them”? Friend, that’s the key. That’s the key of the ministry.
Can I just put it this way? Don’t leave God out of the ministry. There are so many methods and techniques. If you’ve been around Christianity for very long—and many of you have been around it all your life—it’s a dime a dozen: a new method, a new technique, a new wave, and all of that. I’m not saying all of them are bad; they better be biblical, or they are bad. But if they are right, all of that, can I say at the end of the day? All that’s not going to get it done. It’s going to be God. Somebody has got to go along and get along with God and get God’s fragrance on their life. We get so busy in the ministry doing all the things for God, we don’t have time to seek God.
And Jesus said, “I’m calling you unto Me, to be alone with Me, get to know Me, to walk with Me.” My pastor for years, Brother Howes—he wasn’t perfect, but I’ve pastored five different churches, and God has blessed every one of those churches in a great, great way. When people would come and ask, “Hey, what’s the secret? What’s the secret to the ministry?” he would always say, “Walk with God, walk with God, walk with God.” That was the key for him. That’s the key.
I think about Moses, whom God called to the great ministry of leading the children of Israel out of Egypt and over to the Promised Land. He led those three million Jews, and boy, some of them complained. What a heartache Moses had; he was about to pull his hair out. At one point, Moses said this—I’ll read it for you; it’s over in Exodus 33:15: God said, “I will give you My presence.” And Moses said, “If Thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.” Moses said, “If I don’t have the presence of God, I don’t want to do it, and I’m not going into the ministry,” because it starts with the presence of God. Friend, that’s the key.
We look at all this out in the open, friend. That’s not the key. The key is in quiet, in secret, away from everybody. It was just you and God. That’s the key.
It’s interesting, even Jesus Christ—think about even Jesus Christ before He went to do the greatest ministry that ever has been, to purchase salvation for every man, woman, boy, and girl that ever has been or ever will be. Before He went to that great ministry, He went to the garden. He took His apostles and His inner three, and even then, He went and got alone, even apart from the inner three. For three hours, He met with the Father. If God in flesh needed to have that before He went to the great ministry, He needed to get along with God. Don’t you think you and I, before we go out in this sin-cursed world trying to minister, don’t you think you and I need to get along with God?
Oh, yes. The ministry always starts, always starts with getting along with God. He calls us unto Him. Wherever and whatever your ministry is, let it start with God. Let it start by getting close to Him, by abiding with Him.
You say, “My ministry is just to be a dad and a husband.” Oh, friend, there is no higher calling than that. “My call is just to be alive and to raise kids.” Oh, don’t let those kids see you before you’ve been alone with God. You put those kids down for a nap and say, “Lord, it’s their time to be alone, and it’s my time to be alone. I need You, God. I don’t want those kids to see me; I want them to see You.” Amen.
Whatever your ministry is—you go to that factory, and you’re saying, “Preacher, you don’t know how dark it is, the cussing that goes on, the filth, the talk, the jest”—don’t you go to that factory unless you’ve been alone with God? Most people at that factory say something different about that guy. “He’s got some royalty; he seems like he’s been around.” That’s always the key.
God brings the increase. God can bless the ministry, but it starts. God called them unto Him. It always starts there.
John 15, that great passage. If you want to look over there very quickly, John chapter 15—that great passage on abiding in Him, that’s the theme of it. John 15, He starts off there in verse number one: “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman [farmer].” He goes on, “Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh it away: and every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”
“Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you, Abide in Me, and I in you.” What is that? He’s calling you to Him. “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine…” We run out in the ministry trying to bear much fruit. God said, “No, you can’t bear fruit on your own, except it abide in the vine.” “No more can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing.” He is the vine, friend.
The fruit comes on the branches. You check it out. Those branches, boy, they have a lot of fruit. That’s why God’s called you. He’s called you to be a soul winner. He’s called you to be involved in the church. He’s called you to be a steward. Because the fruit is on the branches, but that branch can’t bear fruit apart from the vine. And that branch must abide. That’s the calling. God’s calling you. First of all, His calling is calling you to Him.
Sometimes we get so focused on the fruit, and praise the Lord, that brings Him glory—that’s what He said: “Ye bear much fruit, and it brings glory to Him.” He’s about that, and that’s winning souls at the heart of all that. But, friend, it doesn’t happen without abiding in Him. That branch can’t bear fruit without the vine. The ministry—your ministry, you’re called to the ministry—it starts with abiding in Him.
Would you picture Jesus on the mountainside there? He’s about to send these guys, these apostles. These were the guys that when Jesus was crucified and ascending, they were the ones that started churches all over. They established the churches. They taught the churches how to be run and organized. The apostles—and Paul is an apostle called at a new time to the Gentiles—but these apostles, these were the men that God used greatly. The Bible says they turned the world upside down. Great men God used in a great way. They influenced even our day and time, these apostles. Yet Jesus said, “Hey, first of all, it starts with you coming unto Me. And I’m ordaining you to be with Me.” The ministry always starts with that.
Matthew chapter number six—what a great chapter that is. Three times in that chapter, three times in that chapter, He says, “Thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” Twice in that chapter, He says, “Thy Father, which is in secret.” We looked at all the open, and what’s that? That’s the key. No, friend, the key is in secret. The key is someone out in the prayer closet getting along with God. The key is somebody out in some woods somewhere getting along with God. The key is a husband and wife getting on their knees in the bedroom together. The key is always in secret. That’s what the key is. The whole world looks at the open. The Bible says, “Our Father which is in secret.” The Bible says, “Our Father which seeth in secret shall reward the openly.” Friend, the key is in secret. You don’t get out in the open; you don’t get all that reward God is giving unless somebody’s alone with God, meeting with God. That’s the key.
Jesus is calling them: “Would you come unto Me? I’m ordaining you to be…” Would you picture Him doing that to you? He’s called you, and you are here to be a testimony in your neighborhood, your school, your workplace. Middle Tennessee, He’s calling you. He’s calling you to be an ambassador for Him. And, friend, His first calling, His first calling is calling you to Him. That’s the key.
The preaching He sent them out to do, and the healing the sick, and power to cast out the devils—He can give all that. But it starts with you coming to Him. That’s the beginning of the ministry.
Years ago, I had the privilege of receiving this plaque. It’s called “The Difference.” It says:
"I got up early one morning and rushed out right into the day. I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me and heavier came each task. Why doesn’t God help me? I wondered. He answered, ‘You didn’t ask.’
I wanted to see joy and beauty, but the day turned gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn’t show me. He said, ‘But you didn’t seek.’ I tried to come in God’s presence; I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, ‘My child, you didn’t knock.’
I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray."
For the ministry always starts, always starts with God calling you to Him.
Original File: Your called into the ministry - Pastor Paul Chisgar Sunday PM 62721